Chapter 349: Encountering Various Animals in Succession (Subscription Request)

After bidding farewell to the little Arctic fox, Meng Chao and Wang Bingbing continued to ride the sled on the vast snowfield of the Arctic. The sled made a slight “rustling” sound as it passed through the snow, as if it was the only movement in this silent world.

Not long after they walked, they saw some strange footprints on the snow in front of them. The footprints were very large and shaped somewhat like giant fans, and the distance between each footprint was quite wide.

Meng Chao squatted down and looked at the footprints carefully. He frowned slightly and said to Wang Bingbing, “These footprints look like seals, but with such large footprints, the seal must be quite large.”

Wang Bingbing also came over to look at the footprints, her eyes full of curiosity and vigilance: “Then we have to be careful. If we accidentally disturb it, it will be very dangerous if the seal gets angry.”

The two men walked carefully in the direction of the footprints. Not long after, they saw a few seals lazily basking in the sun on the ice not far away.

Their round bodies shone glossy in the sun, and they moved from time to time, making a “humming” sound.

Meng Chao and Wang Bingbing hid behind a large block of ice, quietly observing the seals. At this moment, an Arctic wolf appeared from nowhere and quietly approached the seal group, apparently targeting the seals as its prey.

The seals seemed to have sensed the danger as well, and they moved towards the ice hole, ready to dive into the water to hide at any time.

The Arctic wolf seized the opportunity and pounced on a seal that was a little far away from the group, but the seal reacted very quickly, flipped over and slipped into the water. The Arctic wolf missed and fell into the water with a “plop”.

However, the Arctic wolf did not seem to be good at fighting in the water. After a few strokes, it swam back to the shore in a panic, shook off the water droplets on its body, and wandered around the shore unwillingly.

Meng Chao and Wang Bingbing watched this scene and found it both thrilling and interesting.

“The animals in the Arctic are using all their magical powers to survive.” Meng Chao sighed softly.

They didn’t dare stay there for long and continued on their way.

After walking for a while, I heard the sound of flapping wings in the sky. Looking up, I saw a group of white Arctic terns circling overhead.

They have agile postures and their white feathers are particularly dazzling in the sun. Sometimes they swoop down, and sometimes they soar into the sky, as if showing Meng Chao and Wang Bingbing their dominance over the sky.

Wang Bingbing looked up at these beautiful birds with amazement on her face: “They fly so beautifully. Although the environment in the Arctic is harsh, these animals have a different kind of vitality.”

Meng Chao smiled and nodded. He was about to say something when he suddenly heard a low “humming” sound coming from not far away. The sound seemed to come from underground, dull but majestic.

The two looked at each other, immediately became alert, slowed down their pace, and slowly approached the source of the sound.

When I got closer, I saw that it was a musk ox lying in the snow to rest.

Its huge body is like a small hill, covered with thick long hair, and its two curved horns look extremely intimidating.

The musk ox seemed to sense someone approaching. It slowly raised its head, stared at Meng Chao and Wang Bingbing with its big eyes, and made a series of warning sounds from its mouth.

Meng Chao hurriedly pulled Wang Bingbing to stop and said softly, “This musk ox is not easy to mess with. Let’s not provoke it. Let’s go around it.”

So the two men carefully changed direction and bypassed the area where the musk ox was from the side.

After passing the musk oxen, they came to a seemingly calm icy lake.

The surface of the glacial lake is like a huge mirror, reflecting the sky and the surrounding snow-capped mountains, which is as beautiful as a dream.

But just as they were about to move forward along the lake, they heard a “cracking” sound coming from under the ice, as if something was hitting the ice.

Meng Chao squatted down and observed the ice surface carefully, and found that there were some tiny cracks on the ice that were slowly spreading.

“Oh no, the ice may be breaking. There may be some big creature moving around underneath. Let’s get out of here quickly.” Meng Chao said anxiously.

The two men hurriedly pulled the sled back for a distance. As soon as they stood firm, they saw a big hole in the ice with a “crash”. A huge white whale poked its head out of the ice hole, sprayed a high column of water, and then slowly dived into the water. The huge body was looming in the water, which made Meng Chao and Wang Bingbing stunned.

“The Arctic is full of surprises and dangers. You never know what you will encounter with every step you take,” Wang Bingbing said with emotion.

“Yes, but that’s why it’s more interesting.” Meng Chao responded, his eyes flashing with anticipation for the unknown.

[Today is really exciting. It’s better to go out and have fun. It’s really boring to stay in the igloo. ]

[6666, we saw a lot of animals in one day. Brother Chao asked the staff to make the slices carefully. Let’s see the slices.]

[Still pay attention to safety and stop when you need to. 】

[This is a bit too risky. It’s hard to choose! ]

After watching the white whale disappear into the water, Meng Chao and Wang Bingbing took a short rest and then continued pulling the sled forward.

However, not long after they walked, the originally clear sky suddenly became gloomy, and strong winds began to howl and sweep in. Large flakes of snow came towards them from all directions like angry white elves, and in the blink of an eye, a fierce blizzard came.

The strong wind blew up the snowflakes, hitting people’s faces painfully. The vision became blurred in the blink of an eye. Meng Chao shouted to Wang Bingbing: “The blizzard is coming. We have to find a place to hide quickly!”

Wang Bingbing held on to the sled tightly and responded, “But there’s nowhere to hide around here!”

Meng Chao tried to open his eyes wide and looked around. Suddenly, he found a raised snow pile not far away. There seemed to be a depression on one side of the snow pile, like a naturally formed sheltered corner.

He hurriedly pulled the sled and walked towards that direction with difficulty. Wang Bingbing helped push it from behind, and the two of them trudged through the thick snow, taking one step deep and one step shallow.

After finally reaching the snow pile, Meng Chao quickly cleared the snow in the depression with his hands and found that the space was larger than he had imagined and could barely accommodate the two of them and the sled.

He quickly pulled the sled into the small shelter and huddled inside with Wang Bingbing.

The wind blew harder and harder, the snow fell heavier and heavier, and the whistling sound seemed to swallow up the whole world.

Meng Chao looked at the raging snowstorm outside and felt a little worried. He said to Wang Bingbing, “We have to organize our equipment and wrap ourselves up as tightly as possible. We can’t get hypothermia.”

As he spoke, he began to check his clothes, tying up the collar, cuffs and other places that were easy to get in the wind, and took a spare cold-proof blanket from the sled and wrapped them around the two people. Wang Bingbing was not idle either, she took out the hand warmer from her backpack, activated it and put it in the arms of the two people, trying to get more warmth.

But even so, the cold air continued to penetrate into their bodies, and the two couldn’t help but tremble slightly.

In order to prevent himself from falling asleep, Meng Chao began chatting with Wang Bingbing, trying to keep each other awake.

“Luckily we found this place, otherwise it would be dangerous to walk in this blizzard.” Meng Chao said.

Wang Bingbing nodded and responded, “Yes, but I don’t know how long this snowstorm will last. I hope it will pass quickly.”

Time passed slowly in the cold and worry, but the blizzard still showed no signs of abating.

Meng Chao was worried that the sled would be buried in the snow, so he leaned out from time to time and used his hands to scrape off the snow piled on the sled.

Wang Bingbing kept an eye on the surroundings, alert to whether other animals that were panicked by the snowstorm were approaching.

I don’t know how long it took, but the snowstorm finally died down, the wind was no longer howling, and the snowflakes were no longer flying so wildly.

Meng Chao and Wang Bingbing carefully crawled out of the snow pile, looking at the white world outside, their hearts filled with gratitude for surviving the disaster.

Meng Chao patted the snow off his body and said, “This snowstorm is really severe, but we managed to survive it. We have to be more careful next time.”

Wang Bingbing looked at the sled, checked the supplies, and responded: “Well, there is no loss of supplies. Let’s continue on our journey. I don’t know what we will encounter ahead.”

So the two of them pulled the sled for some distance on the snowy ground that had been washed away by the blizzard, looking for a more suitable place to build an igloo for the night.

After all, after going through all this, they all need a good rest to restore their strength, and the temperature in the Arctic will be lower at night, so having an igloo that can shelter them from the wind and snow would be much safer.

Meng Chao stopped and looked around. He picked a relatively open area with thick snow and said to Wang Bingbing, “Let’s go here. The thick snow will make it easier to get materials to build an igloo. The open terrain will also allow us to find out the surrounding situation in time.”

Wang Bingbing nodded in agreement, and the two began to prepare.

Meng Chao first used the shovel carried on the sled to shovel the snow and pile it into a large snowdrift, which would be the foundation of the igloo.

Wang Bingbing helped by tamping down the shoveled snow to make the snow pile more solid.

Then, relying on his past experience, Meng Chao began to dig inwards from the edge of the snow pile, slowly digging out an arched space, just like he was carving a huge work of art. He was very careful with each stroke to ensure that the curvature of the arch was reasonable so that the structure of the igloo would be stable.

Wang Bingbing was also busy. She collected some extra snow blocks and cut them into suitable shapes with the small saw on the sled to reinforce the walls of the igloo. The two worked well together, and the snow bricks were laid one by one, and the prototype of the igloo gradually emerged.

Building the top of the igloo was a little more difficult. Meng Chao stood on the sled and tried to pass the snow bricks up one by one. Wang Bingbing carefully took them inside the house and put them together. At the same time, he also had to leave a small vent to avoid air stagnation in the house.

After some effort, the igloo was finally built. Meng Chao built a small windbreak with snow at the entrance of the igloo to further block the cold wind outside. Then, the two pulled the sled into the igloo and unloaded and sorted out the supplies one by one.

Wang Bingbing found a thermal blanket from the supplies, spread it out in a corner of the igloo, and took out some heated food, preparing to make some simple hot meals to warm herself up.

Meng Chao looked around the ice house and returned inside after confirming that there were no safety hazards.

As the hot steam from the heated food rose, the igloo gradually became warmer.

The two of them sat on the thermal blanket, eating hot food, and their bodies gradually warmed up.

Although the time showed it was night, it was still bright outside.

The environment during the polar day is like this. Even though they have been here for a few days, they still cannot adapt to it.

If you stay here for a long time, it will definitely have a great impact on your body.

People still adapt to days with day and night.

Meng Chao swallowed a mouthful of hot food, looked at the still bright world outside, frowned slightly and said: “This polar day is really hard to get used to. It feels like even my normal routine has been disrupted. I always feel that I lack the tranquility and relaxation that I should have at night.”

Wang Bingbing nodded in agreement and responded, “Yes, my body seems to be in a state of tension all the time. I can’t tell when to rest and when to be energetic to face various situations. But we are just exploring here temporarily, and we will be able to return to normal when we return.”

After the two finished eating, they carefully sorted the remaining food and supplies again, making sure they were all placed in a convenient location.

Meng Chao stood up, stretched his stiff body, and said to Wang Bingbing, “While it’s still warm, let’s try to get some sleep. Who knows what we’ll encounter tomorrow? We need to get enough rest.”

Wang Bingbing responded, then lay down on the thermal blanket with Meng Chao, pulling the blanket over their bodies.

But the bright light that came in through the cracks in the igloo made it difficult for them to fall asleep.

Meng Chao simply closed his eyes and began to count sheep silently in his mind, trying to calm himself down. Wang Bingbing turned sideways with her back to the light, trying hard to ignore the light from the outside world.

After an unknown amount of time, Meng Chao finally fell asleep, and Wang Bingbing also fell asleep in a daze after tossing and turning.

However, they still remained somewhat vigilant even in their dreams. After all, they were in the Arctic, a land full of uncertainties, and any movement could mean danger was coming.

Suddenly, a slight “rustling” sound came from outside the igloo, and the sound was particularly clear in the silent environment.

Wang Bingbing, who had been sleeping unsteadily, was suddenly awakened. She subconsciously reached out and pushed Meng Chao beside her, and said in a low voice: “Brother Chao, listen, there seems to be some sound, is there an animal approaching?”

Meng Chao woke up instantly. He sat up, pricked up his ears and listened carefully to the noise outside. At the same time, he reached out to take the weapon beside him, with vigilance in his eyes.

The rustling sound was intermittent, as if something was moving on the snow around the igloo.

(End of this chapter)